Novel Energetic Binder for Solid Propellants

Physical Sciences Inc. (PSI), and its team member Aerojet, propose to synthesize and evaluate a novel energetic binder for solid rocket propellants with high energy and low sensitivity. The proposed polymeric binder is a candidate that is expected to perform better (higher Isp, density, oxygen balance, and heat of formation) than the currently used energy-releasing binders. The PSI-Aerojet team has developed a synthetic approach to produce the binder PGDNMA in 2 stages: monomer synthesis followed by polymerization. PSI will provide Aerojet 25 grams of the energetic binder for testing of its energetic and thermal properties. On a potential Phase II program, PSI will scale up the synthesis. Aerojet will formulate the binder in a propellant mixture and provide enhanced properties characterization. Also, in a Phase II effort PSI and Aerojet will investigate similar polymeric binders.